Golf ball tee

ABSTRACT

A reusable golf ball tee of plastic material that renders it practically indestructible and which is of a shape like a badminton shuttlecock with a relatively wide base that constitutes a skirt in flight to retard forward movement when it is struck by the head of a golf club. The skirt portion of the golf ball tee is perforated to render it of light weight and suitably ribbed to reinforce the same sufficiently to withstand the severe service to which it is exposed. Another feature is an adjustable seat on which the golf ball rests in the form of a tubular member having external spaced grooves that interact with a lip on the skirt member to maintain the different vertical positions that determine the height of the golf ball when it is mounted thereon. Further, the skirt member has a considerable surface area on which advertising copy is printed and thereby they can be furnished free to golfers.

United States Patent Costa GOLF BALL TEE [72] Inventor: Frank Costa, 1217 Tynsfield Road,

Oakmont, Pa'. 15139 [22] Filed: Jan. 26, 1971 211 Appl.No.: 109,764

[52] US. Cl ..273/202 [51] Int. Cl. ..A63b 57/00 [58] Field of Search ..273/33, 202, 203, 207, 208,

[451 Sept. 12, 1972 Primary Examiner-Richard C. Pinkham Assistant Examiner-Theatrice Brown Attorney-William B. Jaspert [5 7] ABSTRACT A reusable golf ball tee of plastic materialthat renders it practically indestructible and which is of a shape like a badminton shuttlecock with a relatively wide base that constitutes a skirt in flight to retard forward movement when it is struck by the head of a golf club. The skirt portion of the golf ball tee is perforated to render it of light weight and suitably ribbed to reinforce the same sufficiently to withstand the severe service to which it is exposed. Another feature is an adjustable seat on which the golf ball rests in the form of a tubular member having external. spaced grooves that interactwith a lip on the skirt member to maintain the different vertical positions that determine the height of the golf ball when it is mounted thereon. Further,

the skirt member has a considerable surface area on which advertising copy is printed and thereby they can be furnished free to golfers.

1 Claim, 5 Drawing Figures PAIENTEDSEM m2 3.690.676

v ENVENTOR.

FRANK cosm GOLF BALL TEE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention Adjustable golf tees are not new per se as is evidenced from the patent to Dawson US. Pat. No. 2,693,358, Siekmiller US. Pat. No. 2,079,387 and British Pat. No. 170,476l92l. These, however, have not functioned satisfactorily and have not left any im press on the art.

2. Description of the Prior Art The above mentioned patents show a tubular base in which a tubular seating element is vertically movable and can be secured in adjusted vertical position. They are of a solid construction and would travel a considerable distance when struck by the head of a golf club with the result that they would be lost or so far out of line that the user would not attempt to recover the same. Also, because of the solid nature of the device, it will, in all likelihood, be fractured by the severe impact to which it is subjected.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention is directed to a composite golf ball tee consisting of a lightweight, durable base structure of a frusto conical shape with a substantially wide base that acts to retard the flight of the device when subject to impact by the head of a gold club. The skirt portion having a lip in its upper extremity that is adapted to snap into grooves formed on the tubular upright that is supported thereon and which functions to seat the golf ball when placed on the turf and adjusted to the desired height. The skirt portion is made of plastic and reinforced by ribs. It is also perforated to permit the passage of air therethrough which sets up a turbulence within the base portion which assists in retarding its flight.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a golf ball tee embodying the principles of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view partially cut away, taken along the line II-II of FIG. 1, to illustrate the gripping lip for holding the ball supporting member.

'FIG. 3 is a side elevational view with the tubular ball support in its lowered position.

FIG. 4 is a side elevation illustrating the reinforcing ribs on the skirt member.

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross sectional view taken along the line V-V of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the drawings the numeral 1 is a base or supporting member of frusto conical shape made of molded plastic material having a radially inwardly extending lip 2 and reinforcing ribs 3 (FIGS. 4 and 5.) The lip is in a plane normal to the axis of the tee, with the inherent resilience of the plastic material permitting flexure of the lip to accommodate vertical adjustment of the tee. An annular reinforcing rib 4 is also provided as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5 and the support 1 which will hereinafter be designated a skirt portion is provided with cut-outs or perforations 5. The area between the perforations 5 may be utilized for advertising matter su h as printing or decoration,

upported on the skirt portion 1 rs a tubular member 6 having grooves 7 that engage the lip 2 of the skirt por tion to hold it in position. The top portion of the tubular element is provided with a chamfer portion at 8 to permit balanced seating of the golf ball 9 thereon.

The operative function of the above described golf ball tee is analogous to the shuttlecocks employed in a badminton set where the shuttlecock is batted back and forth across a net. The badminton games are essentially for small garden or lawn areas and the shuttlecock must necessarily be retarded in flight to avoid getting out of bounds.

Originally a badminton shuttlecock was constructed of a ball-like or hemispherical head with feathers grouped on one'side but more recently they are constructed of plastic material with a flared skirt that re tards its flight on impact. The above described golf ball tee functions similarly in that the highly perforated flared skirt will minimize aerodynamic forces and not permit very much travel of the tee on impact and it will be within a few yards of the point of impact after it is struck.

By means of ribs 3 and 4 the tee will stand considerable abuse particularly in view of the fact that it is not likely to be struck by the average player. By means of the horizontal grooves 7 in the tubular golf. ball seat, the lip 2 will grippingly engage the groove 7 at any particular height suitable to the particular shot required and the particular club to be used.

Although one embodiment of the invention has been herein shown and described, it will. be evident to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made without departing from the principles herein set forth.

I claim:

1. A golf ball tee comprising a hollow frusto conical shaped base of light weight plastic material resistant to impact blows having a perforated peripheral wall with supporting ribs and an inwardly radially extending substantially annular lip at the top edge thereof, said lip terminating in a plane normal to the axis of said tee and being resilient in an axial direction to accommodate repeated selective adjustment of the height of said tee, a tubular member having at its upper end a seat for a golf ball, said tubular member slidin g'ly mounted in said base and being provided with a series of vertically spaced annular grooves for selective gripping engagement with said lip of said base to position and maintain said tubular member at a predetermined height relative to said base, said base being of a size and so perforated as to minimize aerodynamic forces and retard forward movement of said base and tubular member when struck with the head of a golf club. 

1. A golf ball tee comprising a hollow frusto conical shaped base of light weight plastic material resistant to impact blows having a perforated peripheral wall with supporting ribs and an inwardly radially extending substantially annular lip at the top edge thereof, said lip terminating in a plane normal to the axis of said tee and being resilient in an axial direction to accommodate repeated selective adjustment of the height of said tee, a tubular member having at its upper end a seat for a golf ball, said tubular member slidingly mounted in said base and being provided with a series of vertically spaced annular grooves for selective gripping engagement with said lip of said base to position and maintain said tubular member at a predetermined height relative to said base, said base being of a size and so perforated as to minimize aerodynamic forces and retard forward movement of said base and tubular member when struck with the head of a golf club. 